The legal trouble for former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh is increasing day by day. Now, a fourth case of alleged extortion has been registered against him in the city’s Goregaon Police Station. Notably, this is the fourth such case against Param Bir Singh within a month. Of the four FIRs, two have been registered in Mumbai. Two other cases were filed in Thane city.
The recent FIR was registered against Singh yesterday based on a complaint filed by 48-year-old builder Bimal Agrawal. The FIR also names now dismissed police officer Sachin Vaze, and four others accused namely Sumit Singh, Alpesh Patel, Vinay Singh and Riyaz Bhati besides Param Bir Singh.
Plaintiff Bimal Agrawal alleged in his complaint that Singh and the other accused extorted Rs 9 lakh from him for not conducting raids on his two bars and restaurants. Agarwal also claimed that they forced him to buy two smartphones worth Rs 2.92 lakh for them. He claimed that the incident occurred between January 2020 and March 2021.
The FIR was filed under IPC sections 384 and 385 (both pertaining to extortion) 34 (common intention). Singh was removed from the post of police chief after the Sachin Vaze incident came to light. Vaze is under NIA custody as of now. Sachin Vaze was arrested in the case of parking an explosives-laden vehicle near Mukesh Ambani’s residence. He is also facing a charge of murdering Mansukh Hiren, owner of the vehicle.
Param Bir Singh is currently posted as DG Home Guards. However, he has not been attending office since May as he is on sick leave.
According to PTI, last month, Marine Drive police station in Mumbai had registered an FIR against Singh, five other police personnel, and two more persons for allegedly demanding Rs 15 crore from a builder. The next day, one more case of extortion was registered against him, some other police officers at Kopri police station in Thane. On July 30, another extortion case was filed against the senior IPS officer at Thane Nagar police station on the basis of a complaint lodged by businessman Ketan Tanna.
The case registered at Marine Drive police station was recently handed over to state CID for investigation, while Thane police have issued lookout notices against Param Bir Singh and other accused persons in connection with the FIRs registered in Thane city.
Both Singh and Vaze had accused former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption. Deshmukh is facing a CBI probe into the allegations and had to resign following the accusations.
